SOUTH BEND -- Although it is traditionally viewed as a "red" state because of its Republican leanings, Indiana could provide one-fifth of the U.S. House seats needed by Democrats to regain control of that body, U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., predicted here Friday. Hoyer, a 26-year House veteran and Democratic whip, was in South Bend to campaign for Granger Democrat Joe Donnelly in his bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola, R-2nd. "I'm going to all the races where we think we're going to win," Hoyer said. Democrats need to shift 15 House seats to regain control of the chamber, and are counting on Indiana's 2nd, 8th and 9th districts to provide a fifth of that total. Hoyer ranked the war in Iraq as the top issue of the congressional election for Hoosiers. "The American people and voters in Indiana know that what we've been doing in Iraq has not been working the way the President and (Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld said it was going to work," Hoyer said in an interview. He also referred to the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina last year as a "disaster in efficiency and in effectiveness and operation." In addition, Hoyer said port security and border security efforts have been major failures for the administration. "For all those reasons, the context of this election is radically different than it was two years ago," Hoyer said. "That's why Joe's ahead." Hoyer named the war in Iraq as the top issue in the minds of the American people and criticized the administration's handling of the conflict. Despite military advice that at least 200,000 more people would be needed to stabilize Iraq and secure its borders, the administration sent in too few troops, allowing the insurgency to grow, Hoyer said. Other top election issues, Hoyer said, are the economy, jobs and energy independence. "The median family income is down sixteen hundred bucks," he said, while minimum wage workers are earning $5.15 an hour. In addition, he said, jobs are being sent overseas because "our tax policy is designed to give tax benefits to people who send jobs overseas." Hoyer called energy independence "an absolute essential" for national security, economic and environmental reasons, adding, "this administration is focused solely on oil." "As long as we have only oil as an alternative we will be at the mercy of those who want to jack up the price and control supply, many of which are not our friends," said Hoyer, citing Russia, Iraq and Iran as examples. Hoyer also called for a style project to develop energy-efficient automobiles that could be sold to China and India, "just like we sold our computers." "There's no reason why the most innovative nation on the face of the Earth is not developing energy efficient vehicles which are not only going to be good for us, but also good for our economy," he said.Staff writer James Wensits: jwensits@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6353